A young woman with cerebral palsy, whose only way of communicating is by writing with her foot, has won Nepal's most prestigious literary prize.

Jhamak Kumari Ghimire, 30, won the Madan Puraskar prize for her book of autobiographical essays, "Is life a thorn or a flower?"

In this she describes her struggle for self-expression after being born into an ordinary village family in the hills of eastern Nepal with disabilities that left her unable to speak or use her hands.

She was not sent to school and taught herself to write by listening to her sister studying. In her prize-winning book she describes the first time she wrote the letter 'ka' (क) - the first letter of the devanagari alphabet in which Nepali is written.

"I could not share that moment's joy with anyone, but my first letter was written in the dust on the ground and in my heart I could pronounce it. I was so happy that I rewrote the letter 'ka' many times."